Honda is shifting production of the Civic Hybrid out of Japan and over to the United States, as part of a plan to boost their Indiana assembly plant.

The Greensburg plant will get a boost in capacity, allowing it to produce 250,000 vehicles per year. The $40 million upgrade will add 300 new jobs, and bring production of the Civic Hybrid to the plant, which currently produces the standard Civic sedan, Civic Natural Gas and the Acura ILX.

Honda’s CEO has mentioned that a strong yen is making Japanese exports unprofitable, and until now, the only hybrid built in North America was the ILX. The addition of the Civic Hybrid should make life a bit easier, but Honda’s financial hurt with respect to Japanese-built hybrids remains. In Canada, the CR-Z and Insight have had their ordering combinations severely restricted. The Insight had one trim level (the LX, with steel wheels and wheel covers) and three color options available, while the CR-Z has two trims with only one color available on the upper trim, and two on the base. US-spec cars, of course, offer much more freedom of choice.

13 Comments on “Honda Moving Civic Hybrid Production To Indiana...”

Because they added the production to an existing, but fairly recent plant, in Indiana.

The real question is how much production of anything will remain in Japan. Between an aging shrinking workforce and a collapsed utility grid, Japan is in desperate condition. Japan’s national debt stands at more than 2x its gdp. And, no one has any real motivation to bail them out.

The first thing I thought was: Silly TTAC put up a photo of an old Saturn. JFC, Hondas are ugly today! I’m on only my second Honda product in over 20 years, but what happens next with them being so ugly?

June 2012 sales of all Honda Hybrids: HCH (548), CR-Z (409), Insight (494), ILX Hybrid (115) = ~ 1,500. The Prius lineup sold 19,150 that same month. All the R&D and engineering hours spent on its hybrids for such little sales across so many models. Their pride is what is hurting that company because they can’t admit they failed.

That’s nice that one particular model sells well in its home market – but in the US every hybrid Honda has made has never done well. It’s like playing poker and you have no hand but you keep bluffing and now have too much money in the pot to fold.

Honda is supposed to do a refresh of the Civic lineup for 2013, or maybe 2014.
Direct Injection, the regular Civics will also have Atkinson valve behavior when throttle is low!
The Civic Hybrid will be a strong hybrid, like the Prius so more MPG and a bigger electric motor.
Can’t wait to see the new models revealed. Atkinson valve behavior in a regular car is an industry first I believe. Could achieve top MPG numbers, beat the Chevy Cruze.